1953 Watchtower - JW Changes

Jehovah God will show mercy to these merciful ones and will not let them go down into everlasting destruction at Armageddon, because they have the right heart condition. These Christ is gathering now as his other sheep and a great many will survive Armageddon.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. January 1, 1953 p. 12

Let us work hard at putting into operation Christian principles while it is yet the day of God’s toleration of the wicked, because Armageddon is fast approaching.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. January 1, 1953 p. 27

It is just like someone’s saying today that God cannot protect his people at the battle of Armageddon and take them through into the new world; that it is too great a task.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. January 15, 1953 p. 48

I thought you said Armageddon was just a little way off. Why, I have known about this for a whole year now and Armageddon has not come yet.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. January 15, 1953 p. 50

If Jehovah today wants to give more people the opportunity of hearing the truth so that they may learn the way to life before Armageddon strikes, then it is not good for anyone of us to complain. The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. January 15, 1953 p. 51

The “new earth” will consist of righteous men demonstrating themselves before and after Armageddon to be other sheep of the Lord Jesus, “the Right Shepherd.” (John 10:16 and Heb. 2:5, 6, NW) And the “new earth” will include the offspring of such other sheep in the post- Armageddon world.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. February 1, 1953 p. 84

After a wait of centuries, which gave Satan ample opportunity to prove whether he could forestall deliverance of men, Jehovah set in motion a chain of events that ultimately will lead to Armageddon’s miraculous deliverance.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. February 1, 1953 p. 89

He also guarantees deliverance of them from the ‘ruin that he brings upon those ruining the earth’ at Armageddon.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. February 1, 1953 p. 91

18. Once and for all time, Jehovah’s deliverance at Armageddon will demonstrate what?

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. February 1, 1953 p. 93

Jerusalem (Christendom) of today, like Jerusalem of old, will remain asleep, close her ears to the message “announcing Jehovah’s kingdom”, persecute those who preach it, continue to hold on to old, false ideas that are foundationless, deny Christ enthroned, and thus bring upon herself and her people that follow her the divine judgments of Jehovah at Armageddon.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. February 15, 1953 p. 124

While God’s kingdom is now established in the heavens, Christians wait for it to come in all its fury and destructive power against Satan’s organization visible and invisible. This will be during Jehovah’s battle at Armageddon. (Rev. 16:14-16, NW; Isa. 13:4-9; Jer. 25:32-38; Ezek. 9:2, 5-7; Ps. 46:8-11, AS)

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. February 15, 1953 p. 125

In fact, we should expect even worse things now. Why? Because that is what God’s Word says. We are approaching the climax called in the Bible ‘the battle of Armageddon’
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. March 1, 1953 p. 141, 142

And many are going to live through the battle of Armageddon in this generation and enter into the new world of real joy, righteousness and everlasting life.—John 5:29.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. March 1, 1953 p. 147, 148

By a series of victories, leading to a complete and final conquest over all God’s enemies at the battle of Armageddon, a great and eternal salvation is accomplished, seen in the secure establishment of a “new heavens and a new earth”, and on behalf of all those who will gain everlasting life in that new world. (Isa. 65:17, AS)

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. March 15, 1953 p. 178

As then Pharaoh and his hosts, under the influence of their gods, flouted Jehovah, in the persistence of which they were led on to that catastrophe at the Red sea, so now “the kings [rulers and leaders] of the entire inhabited earth” defy Jehovah and his announced purpose and warning, and under demonic influence are led on to Armageddon. (Rev. 16:13-16, NW)

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. March 15, 1953 p. 180

But we hear someone say: ‘Since that song, in which Moses took the lead, was not sung till after the destruction of Egypt’s hosts in the Red sea, would that not indicate that we cannot indulge in a united song of triumphant praise to Jehovah until after Armageddon has been fought and all our enemies have been destroyed?’

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. March 15, 1953 p. 180

We are not confusing that war in heaven with the battle of Armageddon, but because of that initial victory and because of our unbounded faith in Jehovah and his enthroned King, Christ Jesus, we know beyond a shadow of doubt that the final victory by that “faithful and true” warrior is absolutely guaranteed. (Rev. 19:11, NW)

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. March 15, 1953 p. 181

It is a remarkable confirmation of the fact that right now, before Armageddon, is the time to sing and rejoice “and [publicly] declare the works of Jehovah” on account of salvation already accomplished on our behalf.—Ps. 118:17, AS.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. March 15, 1953 p. 182

Notice, too, corresponding with the argument already presented, that David did not attain to his very strong position of superiority over all his enemies by just one smashing victory, foreshadowing Armageddon, but it was by a series of victories.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. March 15, 1953 p. 182

Instead, they place their hope and trust in God’s kingdom and fervently pray for its complete and triumphal success at Armageddon.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. April 1, 1953 p. 214

In sleepy idleness, death will overtake you when in the near future it swallows up this old world at Armageddon.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. April 1, 1953 p. 220

If you hope to reach the shores of God’s promised kingdom you must keep up with God’s organization under the lead of the greater Moses, Christ Jesus, as it marches out of this old system of things, through the parted walls of Armageddon’s destructive waters into the freedom of the new world.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. April 1, 1953 p. 220

But we do unequivocally maintain that the purpose of marriage before God is the production of children, and hence if any married couples want children now, before Armageddon, that is perfectly proper and no one should criticize them for so doing, thereby meddling in their business.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. April 1, 1953 p. 223

A work of sounding the warning of impending destruction at the battle of Armageddon. (Ezek. 3:17; Rev. 16:14-16, NW) And, above all, a work of praising God by clearing his name of reproach, by making known the truth of who he is and what his purposes are.—Ex. 9:16; Ps. 83:18; Isa. 43:10-12.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. May 1, 1953 p. 265

Because God is love he will, in his due time, destroy all the forces of wickedness at the battle of Armageddon.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. May 1, 1953 p. 268

In that post-Armageddon new world there will be no doubt in the minds of any that live that God’s way is one of love, for it will be a world in which there will be no more pain, sorrow,

crying or death, a world where even the lower animals will dwell together in peace with one another.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. May 1, 1953 p. 268

Peter speaks of three worlds: the “world that then was”, that arose when Adam sinned and was later destroyed by the Noachian flood, the present wicked one that started after the flood and will end in Armageddon’s fiery destruction, and the promised new world wherein righteousness is to dwell. The new world’s foundation was laid at the time of the death of Jesus, for it is his sacrificial death that furnishes the basis for human creatures to be rescued from sin and death, enabling some to reign with him as part of the new heavens and others to live forever on this globe as an obedient new earth.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. May 15, 1953 p. 306

And instead of the United Nations organization’s serving as a place of refuge from Jehovah’s fury at Armageddon, it is, to use Jesus’ prophetic words, a “disgusting thing that causes desolation”. (Matt. 24:15, 16, NW)

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. June 1, 1953 p. 326

And it causes twofold desolation: first, it desolates the people’s hope and faith in God’s kingdom, posing as a substitute for it; and, secondly, all who accept the substitute of the United Nations in the place of God’s kingdom will have their lives desolated at Armageddon, the expression of Jehovah’s vengeance foreshadowed by the flood of Noah’s day.—Matt. 24:37-39; Rev. 16:14, 16, NW.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. June 1, 1953 p. 326

Because men in this old dying world think and speak and act wrong, because such unbelievers are vessels of wrath headed for destruction, and because they must be remolded into vessels of glory to Jehovah if they are to escape being shattered like a potter’s vessel by the King’s rod at Armageddon, the vital command to them is: “Quit being fashioned after this system of things, but be transformed by making your mind over.” (John 3:36; Rom. 12:2, NW)

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. June 1, 1953 p. 343

So Jehovah foreknows that the majority of mankind today will perish with Satan at Armageddon, and that only a minority will side with him and live. (Isa. 24:6; Jer. 25:33)

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. June 1, 1953 p. 346

Or, for that matter, that God’s foreknowledge that the majority will perish at Armageddon rules

out any widespread conversion to godliness.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. June 1, 1953 p. 346

Whether by resurrection or by now passing alive through Armageddon to live forever in the new world, theirs is a victory over death, for they share in the everlasting Kingdom blessings.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. June 15, 1953 p. 381

Whether by resurrection or by now passing alive through Armageddon to live forever in the new world, theirs is a victory over death, for they share in the everlasting Kingdom blessings.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. June 15, 1953 p. 381

Armageddon’s sudden destruction will leave the U.N. in smoldering ruins, and the earth littered with the bodies of the “slain of Jehovah”.—Jer. 25:33, 34, AS.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. July 1, 1953 p. 391

They are being prepared for service in Jehovah’s new world of righteousness, which will function after Armageddon makes a clean sweep of this present wicked system of things.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. July 1, 1953 p. 400

Let us now follow through with the picture there made. Jehovah’s Kingdom government, launched on troublous seas, will survive the terrific storm and flood of Armageddon and will protect all people of good will who take their stand for it and enter into God’s “ark” of his new system of things. After Armageddon has completed its destructive work the Kingdom government will guide the people in the way of life and eternal happiness.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. July 15, 1953 p. 435

The storm of Armageddon will destroy Satan’s organization, but will not harm the government Jehovah has launched for his kingdom in the new world beyond that battle. At Armageddon Satan will witness the complete destruction of his wicked system of things, after which he and his demons will be abyssed for a thousand years.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. July 15, 1953 p. 440

37. (a) What course did Satan take toward the Kingdom, and with what result? (b) What will perish at Armageddon, and who will survive it?
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. July 15, 1953 p. 440

While this continues and worsens, Jehovah’s servants are busy in their work of searching for and feeding the Lord’s other sheep, who will be carried alive through the battle of Armageddon and who form the nucleus of the new earth.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. July 15, 1953 p. 441

The New World society now operating in the earth will survive Armageddon and be joined by

the faithful men of old, who the psalmist says will be made “princes in all the earth”. (Ps. 45:16) The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. July 15, 1953 p. 442

Now his time is up and shortly he will see his wicked organization destroyed at the battle of Armageddon, following which he will be sealed in the abyss of inactivity.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. July 15, 1953 p. 442

Another interesting picture of Armageddon is found in 2 Chronicles, chapter twenty.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. July 15, 1953 p. 442

44. What interesting and fitting picture of Armageddon is given at 2 Chronicles, chapter 20?

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. July 15, 1953 p. 442

So now, at Armageddon, the different parts of Satan’s organization will turn against and fight each other while Jehovah’s witnesses will be singing his praises and proclaiming the doom of Satan and his system of things.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. July 15, 1953 p. 443

46. What blessings await Armageddon survivors?

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. July 15, 1953 p. 443

But for the majority their eyes of understanding will not discern his invisible presence until it is manifest in the great tribulation of Armageddon.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. July 15, 1953 p. 447

Then, at the latest, every eye will see him at work in Armageddon’s destruction, and will know he is present and that Jehovah is supreme.—2 Thess. 1:6-10; 2:8.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. July 15, 1953 p. 447

Trees that have produced no fruit by the time of Armageddon will be withered by fiery judgments. There will be no added season given for opportunity of belated fruit bearing. So now is the time to study and work and prepare for surviving Armageddon’s storm.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. August 1, 1953 p. 457

Then when Armageddon comes and those who have sown the wind reap the whirlwind and are uprooted from the land of the living, we with our roots deep in God’s Word shall be able to stand upright in his sight and bear fruit to his praise forever in the new world.—Hos. 8:7; Heb. 13:15.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. August 1, 1953 p. 457

This lets us know where we are in the stream of time, that we live in the last days, that soon Armageddon will sweep aside this old world of wickedness to make way for God’s new world of righteousness.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. August 1, 1953 p. 458

And with Armageddon they will pass from the world scene even as did the Sadducees with the destruction of Jerusalem.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. August 1, 1953 p. 463

In 1942, through God’s Holy Bible, he revealed that World War II would not merge into the world-smashing battle of Armageddon but would be followed by a peace, a postwar period. Such peace—would it last? To that question the answer that Jehovah’s witnesses gave from the Bible was to quote God’s own flat No! However, for as long as the peace before Armageddon would last, there would be a vast amount of work, urgent work, to be done all over the earth, and this in lands where search for the “other sheep” had not yet penetrated.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. August 1, 1953 p. 472

The Christianity that the witnesses of the Most High God encourage and work for in the African believers is one that acquaints them with the one, living and true God and his provision for salvation by the sacrifice and the kingdom of his Son Jesus Christ; a Christianity that frees them from their pagan and demonistic superstitions and practices, that teaches them to live by Christ’s code of one wife to a husband, to bring up their children in the fear, worship and service of God, to be honest and dependable workers for their employers, to read and understand God’s Holy Book, to live in peace, unity and brotherly love although from different colors, tongues and tribes, and to become preaching witnesses of Jehovah and thus have a part in the highly important pastoral work of Jehovah’s Shepherd-King Jesus before this doomed, old-world civilization ends at Armageddon.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. August 1, 1953 p. 476

We cannot burst into a showy sprint for a short time then indulge in dangerous napping, for Armageddon is not poking along like the tortoise. Nor can we steadily poke along like the tortoise, for Armageddon is not napping like the hare.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. August 15, 1953 p. 486

But it will not cease when the Watch Tower Society loses its charter, either when the Watch Tower Society is dissolved by a hostile government the way the branch office in Eastern Germany was dissolved first by the Nazis and now recently by the Communist government, or when the chartering government passes away at the battle of Armageddon. A Watch Tower Tract Society existed and spread God’s message before ever Zion’s Watch Tower Tract Society was incorporated in 1884 under the laws of the State of Pennsylvania, U.S.A. After the battle of Armageddon obliterates this old world the New World society will continue on, for it will be approved and authorized by the only government then in power, the divine government.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. August 15, 1953 p. 494

8. Why is this rightly called a “society”, and why will it continue on after Armageddon?

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. August 15, 1953 p. 494

They will not be carried over Armageddon.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. August 15, 1953 p. 495

How wonderful it will be to survive the battle of Armageddon and live in a world that we may love, a world that we can be friends with, that we can be in and be a part of without making ourselves the enemies of God!

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. August 15, 1953 p. 495, 496

The universal war of Armageddon is ahead of this generation, and those worldly ruling factors are not going to protect us or our property during that war. They are not going to get us through and past Armageddon and into the new world, for they themselves will not get through but will be dashed to pieces.—Ps. 2:1-9.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. August 15, 1953 p. 497

It is to Jehovah God that we have to render and pay back what belongs to God, if we are to survive the war of Armageddon or if, dying before then, we are to be resurrected to life in his new, post-Armageddon world.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. August 15, 1953 p. 497

He has been enthroned to rule now in the midst of his enemies in heaven and earth and to dash the nations to pieces at Armageddon and take over the literal control of the whole earth. He has been given the right to the earth and its domination. He enforces theocracy, he applies God’s rule, Jehovah’s sovereignty, toward this earth. He is a swift punisher of what is untheocratic. So watch out for him at Armageddon.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. August 15, 1953 p. 500

If we refuse organization instructions, if we forsake the gathering of ourselves together to avoid organization and its obligations, where could we go after Armageddon? Will there be separatists after Armageddon who will each make himself his own society and live as a hermit in a spacious earth, avoiding human contact and preferring animal society? For anyone to forsake the organized congregation of those who are destined to survive Armageddon means for that one never to get past Armageddon into the New World and its theocratic system. Like Noah’s family, we must now get into the ark all together!

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. August 15, 1953 p. 500, 501

So we must learn to surmount our internal difficulties and straighten them out now. Better that than to have to contend with such things among us after Armageddon.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. August 15, 1953 p. 501

We might well say now: Let not Armageddon come down like a thief with you in an angered mood, in a provoked state against your brother.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. August 15, 1953 p. 501

Right after the battle of Armageddon will the survivors be living under nationalistic governments with divided loyalties, rival claims, proud traditions and ancient hatreds and suspicions?

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. August 15, 1953 p. 501

29. Will the survivors have nationalistic divisions after Armageddon, and what about their language?

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. August 15, 1953 p. 501

It means we must get free from the lies of false religion, which blaspheme God’s name and distort his purpose and way of salvation, and which lead mankind into destruction at Armageddon.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. August 15, 1953 p. 502

Today, since our deliverance from modern Babylon in 1919 and before our entering the new world after Armageddon, we are having Jehovah’s theocratic law and requirements restated to us as never before in Christian history.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. August 15, 1953 p. 503

We are being drilled in the requirements of the New World society, that we may know how to choose the course of life and keep living in God’s favor and blessing now; it may be we shall even be preserved through Armageddon into the new world at its start.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. August 15, 1953 p. 503

It is now we have to meet these theocratic requirements, now in this “time of the end”, and not just after Armageddon.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. August 15, 1953 p. 503

No, in the new world there will be no pagans and false religious neighbors surviving Armageddon to beset us and tempt us to worship their false gods and offer their children to us in marriage provided we offer ours to them and thereby make leagues and alliances to our endangerment.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. August 15, 1953 p. 503

Now, in these “latter days” before the universal war of Armageddon, God has vindicated what he then called himself by now producing a name-people for himself just as he did in the days of the apostles.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. September 1, 1953 p. 534

Today the New World Translation is first published in the universal or international language of the twentieth century, English. We trust that this Bible translation will survive the coming war of Armageddon with other good Bible translations in English, besides all useful ones in other languages used by the New World society, for at least the temporary use of the Armageddon survivors of various languages.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. September 1, 1953 p. 540

39. To correspond with the first century, in what kind of language is the New World Translation published today, and what are our hopes for it respecting Armageddon?
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. September 1, 1953 p. 540

But every genuine Christian must boldly play his part as a preacher of the good news while the scene of this old world still remains, “for the scene of this world is changing” and will pass away at Armageddon.—1 Cor. 7:31; 1 John 2:17, NW.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. September 15, 1953 p. 555

Christians may flourish, yes, but only until Armageddon.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. September 15, 1953 p. 555

The crop of “weeds” that Christendom has raised under its unscriptural clergy and laity system will be cast into the fiery furnace of destruction at Armageddon.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. September 15, 1953 p. 555

So now at Armageddon she deserves the punishment of a spiritual harlot according to God’s law.—Lev. 21:9.

The sign of the nearer approach of the battle of Armageddon is now before our eyes.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. September 15, 1953 p. 564

There are no out-of-the-way places to God’s executioners; and the hiding of oneself from the armies of the “disgusting thing” that wreak desolation upon Jerusalem’s modern counterpart will not hide anyone from execution by God’s Armageddon forces under his King Jesus Christ.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. September 15, 1953 p. 565

For Christians and for people outside of Christianity who want to flee and be hidden at Armageddon’s very outbreak, the mountains outside of condemned Judea pictured today the protected New World theocratic system of things that Jehovah God has created in this time of the end.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. September 15, 1953 p. 565

For us to go to the lands of so-called “heathendom,” steeped just as much in Babylonish, demon religion, would be no greater safeguard in the time of Armageddon.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. September 15, 1953 p. 565

The birth of this land of the New World society is truly the founding of the new earth, for the spiritual remnant will be preserved through Armageddon and their theocratic earthly organization will eventually blend into the permanent new earth of the new world, inhabited exclusively by earthly people of good will.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. September 15, 1953 p. 568

Countless others are threatened with destruction at Armageddon, which will begin with destruction of old-world religion.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. September 15, 1953 p. 569

That means, till the battle of Armageddon begins and proceeds toward the total desolation of the old world of which Satan the Devil is the god.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. September 15, 1953 p. 570

Are we willing to work on until Jehovah God has made the blessed population of the theocratic land to number, say, millions, who for having fled there and faithfully living there will survive Armageddon and need never die off the face of the new earth? If we are willing, God’s good news of the Kingdom and his warning of vengeance for the foes of the Kingdom must be our message down till Armageddon and we will not let those words of God depart from our mouths until the desolation of Satan’s old world is complete and the earth as well as heaven is clean. That supreme event is near!

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. September 15, 1953 p. 570

Amid the destructions during Armageddon our various physical properties, homes, Kingdom Halls, and material possessions may be destroyed, but under heavenly protection from Jehovah’s executional hosts we shall survive with what we need, chief of all of which will be his approval for holding fast our integrity to him and his kingdom.

Looking forward to living endlessly together after Armageddon, the big thing now is knowing how to live together and serve God unitedly.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. September 15, 1953 p. 570, 571

At Armageddon they will know he is Jehovah, however.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. September 15, 1953 p. 575

When Christ strikes at Armageddon he will again make manifest Jehovah’s name, in a way that will convince all that Jehovah is a God that “causes to be” in accord with his purposes.—Ezek. 6:7, 10, 13, 14, AS; John 17:6, NW.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. September 15, 1953 p. 575

✔What will mark the beginning of Armageddon? P. 564, ¶28.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. September 15, 1953 p. 576

Back in 1897 the Watch Tower Society published the fourth volume of the Studies in the Scriptures, first entitled “The Day of Vengeance” and later given a change of title to “The Battle of Armageddon.”

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 1, 1953 p. 580, 581

When the Dragon is finally cast into the abyss at Armageddon and the wild beast from the sea is cast into destruction in the lake of fire, they are still understood as having each the same number of heads as before, just seven.—Rev. 19:19, 20.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 1, 1953 p. 582

Such would be the case if Gog were a new and eighth spirit prince newly raised to power to act as Satan’s chief of staff on the battlefield of Armageddon.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 1, 1953 p. 583

This seventh world power becomes the “false prophet” of Revelation (16:13; 19:20; 20:10), and when we see frogs hop out to croak and urge the world rulers on to Armageddon, what?

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 1, 1953 p. 583

Thus Gog pictures Satan during the short period of time that he has left between the end of the war in heaven and the battle of Armageddon
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 1, 1953 p. 583

It is the Dragon out of whose mouth the frog hops to gather the world rulers to Armageddon. It is the seven-headed Dragon itself that takes charge of the final attack and the ensuing war at Armageddon.—Rev. 12:7-17; 16:13.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 1, 1953 p. 583

True, Jehovah God does use Jesus Christ to fight as his chief of staff at Armageddon. But why is that so? Because Jehovah had foretold that, because the Serpent misled our first parents into sin in Eden, the Seed of God’s woman would bruise the great Serpent at the head. At Armageddon Jehovah has Jesus Christ, the woman’s Seed, do the crushing. (Gen. 3:15; Rom. 16:20) This would not, however, call for Satan to mimic God in this respect and appoint a new, untried demon prince to fight as his chief of staff at Armageddon.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 1, 1953 p. 583

8. Whom does Jehovah use to crush the Serpent’s head, and what, if anything, does this argue for Satan’s using an eighth spirit prince at Armageddon? Why?
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 1, 1953 p. 583

Armageddon is his big fight, like that of a roaring lion cornered in his lair.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 1, 1953 p. 596

But now, as Gog, Satan is pictured after he has been hurled from heaven down to the earth and is held in check here until at Armageddon he is transferred from his Tartarus condition into the abyss and put under a sealed cover there for a thousand years. (Rev. 20:1-3, 7)

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 1, 1953 p. 596

This would be when Armageddon, “the war of the great day of God the Almighty,” would be

scheduled to begin.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 1, 1953 p. 598

He begrudges them this flourishing paradise condition in which their theocratic society dwells and worships Jehovah, and particularly so when he beholds the distress of nations in his own world and realizes that its display of pomp, power and artificial prosperity can last now for only a “short period of time” until he and his seed shall have their heads mashed in at the battle of Armageddon. If his own world organization cannot prosper and if it cannot enjoy lasting prosperity religiously, economically and nationally, then no other organization shall enjoy it either.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 1, 1953 p. 599

He would bruise the remnant at their heel by wiping them out and would prevent their surviving the battle of Armageddon. Necessarily, this would mean also that their good-will companions would fail to survive. That promised preservation act by Jehovah at Armageddon is something for Gog to prevent.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 1, 1953 p. 603

Even after war was fought in heaven and the great Dragon was cast down to the earth, Jehovah’s holding of Gog of Magog in reserve for Armageddon has applied, for already it is thirty-five years since A.D. 1918, when World War I closed. Instead of destroying Satan and his demons and his earthly organization then, Jehovah cut the days of tribulation short and held Gog of Magog in store for final handling at Armageddon.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 1, 1953 p. 604

34. To what location does Jehovah lead Gog and his hordes, and when does Armageddon begin?

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 1, 1953 p. 604

Shortly now we are to be made eyewitnesses of the most magnificent spectacle when Jehovah reveals his glory at Armageddon in vindication of his creation-wide sovereignty.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 1, 1953 p. 607

It is a wonderful education, never to be forgotten nor regretted; it will even be taken with them into the post-Armageddon world, but—count the cost.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 1, 1953 p. 586

He particularly noted the emphasis these placed on Jehovah’s witnesses’ now being a New World society and the imperative need for it to keep clean if it would survive Armageddon.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 1, 1953 p. 590

In this powerful talk Brother Knorr drew a parallel between Jerusalem A.D. 66, when Rome’s armies surrounding Jerusalem suddenly withdrew, permitting Christians in Jerusalem and in Judea to heed Jesus’ words and flee to safety, and Christendom, which is now surrounded by the armies of the anti-God forces within the “disgusting thing that causes desolation,” making it imperative that all flee before Armageddon makes it too late.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 1, 1953 p. 591

At 4:00 o’clock the chairman of the assembly, Percy Chapman, introduced the speaker of the afternoon, N. H. Knorr, to speak on the subject, “After Armageddon—God’s New World.”

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 1, 1953 p. 594

With due deliberation and sustained power the speaker logically and Scripturally developed his theme, being applauded from the first two sentences. Armageddon was not to be a mere political or international conflict but Jehovah’s war of universal proportions. (Rev. 16:14, 16) The march to Armageddon is on. The question today is not, Which bloc will yield? but, Will the nations yield to the King of kings? After Armageddon God’s new world will take over, bringing with it health, everlasting life and even the resurrection of the dead. In conclusion he urged, “Prepare now for that eternity of all new things, to live in it and be forever happy. Get ready now to live AFTER ARMAGEDDON in GOD’S NEW WORLD!”

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 1, 1953 p. 594, 595

She will therefore share their destiny and be slaughtered with them at the battle of Armageddon. (Isa. 65:11-15, AS)

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 15, 1953 p. 629

This boded no good for the nations, for Jesus Christ was destined to rule them with a rod of iron and dash them to pieces at the battle of Armageddon.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 15, 1953 p. 631

Truly, preliminary to Armageddon and its violent removal of all nations, there has been a great unsettlement, commotion and shaking of the heavens, earth, sea and all nations of Satan’s world. The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 15, 1953 p. 632

He has shaken all the nations by the preaching of the good news of the Kingdom in all the inhabited earth for the purpose of a witness to all the nations, and the desirable things of the nations have come in already, and an untold number of them will yet come in before Jehovah consummates the great shaking by fighting the battle of Armageddon and totally removing the quaking heavens and earth of the Devil’s organization.—Hag. 2:20-23.

Once we of the remnant used to think that in the time of the greatest test, the final test, of the remnant before or at Armageddon it would become necessary for Jehovah God to raise from the

dead the “so great a cloud of witnesses” of ancient times, the “princes” (estimated to be just seventy in all), to strengthen the spiritual remnant and give them divine assurance amid their toughest trial.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 15, 1953 p. 635

They gladly expend themselves financially and otherwise in order to carry on world-wide Kingdom-preaching until the world’s end comes at Armageddon.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 15, 1953 p. 636

What glory, what impressive weight, this gives to Jehovah’s house, a glory never lessening but ever increasing as time marches on to Armageddon!
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 15, 1953 p. 636

He wields the iron scepter to smash all the nations to pieces like mere potter’s vessels at Armageddon.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 15, 1953 p. 637

Their disarmament conferences and resolutions are not for total disarmament but for mere limitation of armaments, and these have never led and will never this side of Armageddon lead the nations to forge swords into plowshares and spears into pruning knives and to lay down the sword and quit teaching war.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 15, 1953 p. 638

But when Armageddon is finished, Jehovah’s King will have dashed all those anti-Kingdom nations to bits.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 15, 1953 p. 638

When Armageddon strikes and Jehovah confounds his enemies, those enemies will turn every man his hand against his brother.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 15, 1953 p. 638

42. Who, then, of the nations is it that now heed Jehovah’s judgments and reproof, and how will they do so even at Armageddon? Why?
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 15, 1953 p. 638

The prophecies show, however, that the good news of the Kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth as a warning before Armageddon strikes. The watchman class will faithfully perform the work to the extent Jehovah considers necessary, and by Armageddon all will come under individual or family or community responsibility before God.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 15, 1953 p. 639

Hence that statement of Jesus about the stones applied back there and to the modern parallel of Jesus’ being offered as the Foundation Stone for Zion in 1918, whereas Ezekiel 3:18 applies at this time to giving the warning of Armageddon.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 15, 1953 p. 639

✔ Why Jesus’ words, “If these remain silent, the stones would cry out,” cannot be applied to the warning that must be given of Armageddon’s battle? P. 639, ¶5.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. October 15, 1953 p. 640

FOR Jehovah’s witnesses to be sounding a warning of the end of the present wicked system of things in a fiery Armageddon seems farfetched and wholly inconceivable to this complacent generation.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. November 1, 1953 p. 644

These events would spell out for mankind the presence of Christ and at the same time warn of the nearness of the battle of Armageddon. Jesus said that his invisible installation would be marked on earth by nation rising against nation in world war; that there would be pestilences, food shortages and earthquakes in many places; that his followers would be hated by all nations; that they would be persecuted and some even killed; that the faithful would be engaged in the preaching of the good news of his established kingdom as a witness to all the inhabited earth before the coming of Armageddon; that during these happenings there would be “anguish of nations, not knowing the way out because of the roaring of the sea and its agitation, while men become faint out of fear and expectation of the things coming upon the inhabited earth”; that there would be a vain effort to establish peace through a makeshift political government, and that when ALL OF THESE THINGS were seen happening in one generation, that generation should flee for its life because Armageddon would be near at hand.—Matthew 24, 25; Mark 13; Luke The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. November 1, 1953 p. 644

John under inspiration spoke of unprecedented woe climaxing this period with the battle of Armageddon. ALL OF THESE EVENTS, not just one or two, but ALL OF THESE THINGS happening in the same generation would be the sign marking Christ’s second presence. No false alarm this. That generation would see his presence and experience the fiery judgments of Armageddon.—Matt. 24:32-34; James 5; Revelation chapters 12 and 16.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. November 1, 1953 p. 645

The gospel is preached for “a witness to all the nations,” that people of good will may flee to the Kingdom before the day of Armageddon. (Matt. 24:14, NW)
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. November 1, 1953 p. 646

The gospel is preached for “a witness to all the nations,” that people of good will may flee to the Kingdom before the day of Armageddon. (Matt. 24:14, NW)

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. November 1, 1953 p. 646

Further, Jehovah’s actions against the enemies of his people back there were prophetic of his coming judgments. That is why his ‘battle of the great day’ is termed Armageddon. (Judg. 5:19; Ps. 83:1-18; Rev. 16:14, 16)

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. November 1, 1953 p. 656

We must observe that the lasting life for all Christians is in the future and the lasting life for the majority is upon this earth after Armageddon. In the meantime we have hopes of being carried through Armageddon, and if that is not our lot, nevertheless, through our faithfulness and Jehovah’s loving power, we have hopes of participating in the resurrection from the dead.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. November 1, 1953 p. 663, 664

Or, because Armageddon has not come as soon as we once expected we may grow impatient and doubt that God is using the theocratic organization to feed his people with spiritual truths.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. November 1, 1953 p. 669

Publication title: So great was the excitement in India over this that it was feared that a religious revolution which would almost lead to a new mutiny was imminent.”—The Battle of Armageddon, C. T. Russell, pages 207-209.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. November 15, 1953 p. 678

Now is the time for it, before the great storm of Jehovah’s day breaks at Armageddon. When Armageddon breaks in all its fury, the acceptable season for taking up the worship of Jehovah will be ended. The decision must be made before the especially acceptable season concludes.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. November 15, 1953 p. 690

And so it will be with the servant class at Armageddon. Pure worship will give them strength. The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. November 15, 1953 p. 699

This day of salvation has a climax. Revelation 16:14 tells us it is the war of the great day of God the Almighty, Armageddon. Armageddon means salvation to Jehovah’s servants.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. November 15, 1953 p. 700

As for us, Jehovah’s servants, during the years that will yet pass before Armageddon begins, we may expect much opposition to the carrying on of pure worship, but with complete calmness, inward serenity and joy, whether we are persecuted or are not persecuted, let us stand firm.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. November 15, 1953 p. 702

Section heading: AFTER ARMAGEDDON—GOD’S NEW WORLD

An audience of 165,829 persons from ninety-six nations and islands of the sea heard the stirring discourse “After Armageddon—God’s New World” at the New World Society Assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Yankee Stadium, New York, July 26, 1953. Of this number 117,000 were within and about the stadium, while some 49,000 heard the talk at the assembly’s Trailer City in New Jersey by direct telephone line. All world conditions point to the near-at-hand battle of Armageddon, this lecture revealed, and those who heard it rejoiced to know of the grand hope for surviving into a perfect and righteous earth under a “new heavens.”

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. November 15, 1953 p. 704

Publication title: Not only will you enjoy reading After Armageddon—God’s New World, but all your friends who like good news will enjoy it too.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. November 15, 1953 p. 704

Her money will not save her at Armageddon, nor her profession of Christianity: “‘Master, Master, did we not prophesy in your name?’ . . . And yet then I will confess to them: I never knew you at all. Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness.” (Matt. 7:22, 23, NW)

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 1, 1953 p. 712, 713

Jehovah’s witnesses will keep on proclaiming the judgments of Jehovah, and when the smoke of Armageddon clears it will reveal a new world free of traffickers in the Word of God.—Zech. 14:21, AS; 2 Pet. 3:13.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 1, 1953 p. 713

Those who have thus ordered their lives are planning to survive the destruction of this old world in the battle of Armageddon and be carried over into the new world, there to enjoy the blessings of Kingdom rule. (Zeph. 2:2, 3)

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 1, 1953 p. 715

Following Armageddon “the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea.” (Hab. 2:14, AS)
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 1, 1953 p. 715

The Witnesses, objecting to the ‘World’s Wars,’ believe that God will soon destroy all the evil of earth in a universal war—Armageddon—according to Milton G. Henschel, a director of the Society.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 1, 1953 p. 718

This will take place at the battle of Armageddon when Christ serves as the executioner for his Father, Jehovah, against those who alienate themselves from God and oppose the ministry of reconciliation.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 1, 1953 p. 732

He has provided his Son for the redemption of men of faith and will shortly complete the carrying out of his purposes with regard to the earth by wiping out the old system of things at Armageddon to make way for the new heavens and new earth wherein dwells righteousness.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 1, 1953 p. 732

During that righteous rule the beauties of the paradise as it was in Eden will be extended to envelop the entire earth as hundreds of thousands of Armageddon survivors work together to beautify their earthly home, and God’s purposes will be carried out as man serves under his direction.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 1, 1953 p. 733

On reading the 1954 Yearbook your heart will be made glad to see how Jehovah is gathering his other sheep before the approaching storm of Armageddon.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 1, 1953 p. 736

Give to others what Christ wants you to give: the good news of his kingdom. (Matt. 24:14) Do this now, for soon, at Armageddon, Christ the King will forever put an end to the pagan party of Christmas and its self-seeking celebrators.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 15, 1953 p. 740

What organization today is proclaiming God’s kingdom as the hope of the world and warning the people of the impending war of Armageddon? There is only one organization doing all this: that is the organization of Jehovah’s witnesses.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 15, 1953 p. 747

The clergy have not gone to the people or brought them the good news of God’s new world. As in Jesus’ day the clergy’s flock are really “sheep without a shepherd.” Now, before Armageddon, all the Lord’s other sheep must be found and gathered into the one fold of the “chief shepherd.” (John 10:16)

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 15, 1953 p. 747

As a result a new generation is rising, for Jehovah is now using the remnant to raise up an earthly society that will pass through Armageddon alive.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 15, 1953 p. 751

Marriage will not cease with Armageddon. These Armageddon survivors will have offspring to maybe grandsons and great-grandsons, to fill the earth. These Armageddon survivors will not pass off the scene and leave the new-world stage to their offspring as successors, according to the long-time rule of Ecclesiastes 1:4.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 15, 1953 p. 751

Those of the spiritual remnant who survive Armageddon will finally pass off the earthly stage, never to return, and they will leave behind this totally earthly New World society.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 15, 1953 p. 751

But, instead of destroying them with the world, Jehovah cut short the days of tribulation upon Satan’s organization by interrupting it with a period of undeserved kindness before the battle of Armageddon is allowed to break out.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 15, 1953 p. 754

He has held up Armageddon, the terrific trouble that was foreshadowed by the Flood. He did not bring Armageddon in 1918 or right after the “war in heaven” by which Satan was cast out of heaven and down to the earth.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 15, 1953 p. 754

When Armageddon comes, it will be soon enough, too soon for men who selfishly postpone taking the divine advice and acting.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 15, 1953 p. 754

Having made that conquest in heaven, the King rides on to complete his conquest at Armageddon in the greatest fight of all time. In setting up the Kingdom in 1914 Jehovah’s power was manifested. Since 1919 further divine power has been manifested in having the Kingdom’s establishment proclaimed in the face of world opposition. Divine power has stiffened Jehovah’s witnesses to stand loyal to the Kingdom, and in loving devotion these talk of its power that is to be fully manifested at Armageddon for Jehovah’s vindication.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 15, 1953 p. 756

He starts with the hundreds of thousands of the “great crowd” of other sheep, who will survive Armageddon and, keeping integrity, will never die. We must bear in mind that Jesus Christ, “the Right Shepherd,” surrendered his human soul for these “other sheep” as well as for the “little flock.”

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 15, 1953 p. 758

As long as this slave class remains on earth, be that also after Armageddon, Jehovah will not discharge them, even when he raises the faithful witnesses of ancient times from the dead.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 15, 1953 p. 758

We look to Jehovah’s hand to satisfy our spiritual need no matter how many years we have yet to live to Armageddon and no matter what world conditions may arise to surround us then. After Armageddon we shall keep looking to him.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 15, 1953 p. 759

If the animals are to feed on the carcasses of their former oppressors and have a post- Armageddon feast, then certainly we of the New World society are not going to start off hungry and needy as soon as we step into the new world.—Ezek. 39:11-20; Rev. 19:17-21.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 15, 1953 p. 759

At Armageddon the people are going to call upon their many false gods for deliverance, but to no

avail.
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 15, 1953 p. 759

36. Why shall we not start off hungry and needy immediately after Armageddon?

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 15, 1953 p. 759

Do you know who will survive the battle of Armageddon?
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 15, 1953 p. 760

42. Who will survive Armageddon, and what about some who may die faithful before Armageddon?

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 15, 1953 p. 760

We know who are sure to survive Armageddon, and there is no excuse for deluding ourselves. The rule is simple, plain. Because of the “increasing of lawlessness” the love of many is cooling off, but the New World society must keep on loving Jehovah, doing so ever more fervently. (Matt. 24:12, NW) Those lovers of his who may die now before Armageddon Jehovah will preserve, because their worthiness of life in the new world continues on and will be rewarded in the right way or at his due time, whether by a spiritual resurrection to reign with Christ in the Kingdom or by an early resurrection to life in the earthly paradise.—John 5:28, 29; Rev. 2:10.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 15, 1953 p. 760

Even the battle of Armageddon will not interrupt their blessing his name, for only the blessers will be preserved clear through it. Then think of the sweet work after Armageddon, not just of acquainting the children of the Armageddon survivors, but also of acquainting all those resurrected ones with Jehovah’s name to incite them to join in blessing it until all earth resounds with his deserved blessing and praise.

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 15, 1953 p. 761

In view of it are we determined to have a part in realizing the psalmist’s inspired wish as to the divine name now and after Armageddon?

The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 15, 1953 p. 761

45. Why will Armageddon not interrupt the blessing of His name, and what inspired wish of the psalmist are we determined to have a part in realizing?
The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom. December 15, 1953 p. 761

Questions From Readers

● Both Jeremiah 25:33 and Ezekiel 39:12 refer to those slain at Armageddon, yet one says the dead will not be buried and the other says they will. How are the two texts harmonized?—W. B., Canada.